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Hi everyone
We just got back from a fantastic vacation in Santa Cruz highlighted by spending time with Matt Mustapick, Rick Turner, and Jeff Traugott (and lots of time in the water with my board).
I ran into Matt in Sylvan Music on my first day in town. Going to Sylvan was the first thing I made sure to do, and I was looking at all of the boutique amps when I heard someone ask Matt if he'd built anything lately. Matt's guitars were completely off my radar, and it was my loss. He invited me to visit his shop, and after I got lost in a few more amps, left me his card.
I made it over the next day and couldn't be happier that we ran into each other. His guitars are phenominal and have some of the coolest aesthetic touches---like his blue purfling and burl rosettes that run to the soundhole, etc. After talking about things like beveled armrests, bending his cutaways, looking through his wood, misc. processes, etc, he invited me in to see the completed guitars he'll be taking to Healdsburg. I had the chance to play a sapelie/sitka baritone, koa/cedar baritone, and a few others. All of them sounded great, and you owe it to yourself to check out his booth at Healdsburg (or listen to some of the clips on his site). I won't try to describe the sound because sound isn't the most literate thing. Matt's definitely one of my new favorite builders.
Two days later, it was my great fortune to visit Rick Turner. My sister asked to come with me, and after some cajoling, I gave in. Like any good embarrassed little brother, I refused to get out of the car until she gave up custody of her cell phone (of course, she snuck it back, and when we were in Adam Stark's finishing room, my mom called).
Rick was incredibly gracious and made us both feel completely at ease. I didn't feel like a moron until an hour had passed. I was playing the Kaiser guitar---the guitar commissioned to survive three months in the South Pole*---and forgot how to play a G. Not bad for someone who had a scholarship to lead the rhythm section in a university jazz band. I was distracted by looking at every thing I possibly could.
Rick walked us through the entire Renaissance shop, teaching me about the various ways they fret different guitars, and gave me a fretting lesson himself, showing me the type of hammer he likes to use (a 10 oz. stanley dead blow---picked one up as soon as I got home), how to strike the fret, doing whatever it takes to get the board level before doing anything else, treating the wood, etc. I saw Adam Stark's setup and totally loved what Rick does with bursts and color. . .
It was amazing to be in there, talking frets and playing his personal collection of guitars, handling his ukes, remembering that MTV had been there the week before, thinking about things like Antartica and The Grateful Dead, listening to Rick laugh about some things he's conjuring up. I couldn't play a G, but I felt comfortable enough to own up to the fact that a few days earlier, I'd accidentally set my current build on fire. The whole deal was just awesome. Thank god my sister was there because she was able to talk while I looked at as many things as I possibly could and take them all in. &nb sp;
Then he told us how to get to Traugott's. Talk about a cold call.
As Jeff showed us around, my mind was firmly stashed away in my pocket. As a younger builder, Jeff's guitars have been the ones I've hoped to own up to, and seeing them hang in the finish room, looking at his stash of brazilian, was beyond words.
Literally. He finally had to ask if I had any questions.
Rather than asking one, I blurted out a statement: I've based my body roughly around yours.
"Oh! Well, do you want me to trace it for you?"
I finally asked him how he approached voicing, only, the way I asked wasn't as sophisticated. "How do you voice?" Not, "how do you voice for different situations and needs?" Just, "How do you voice?"
Jeff pulled down a few in-process tops and let me see them flex, describing what he likes in stiffness across and along the grain, how the two tops were different thicknesses and flexed about the same (and they are THIN). Then he started tapping them for me, letting me hear what he likes to hear in their tone and resonance. He led me to different pictures of his bracing, told me their rough dimensions, and showed me how it's changed. He let me look at something he's trying with his backs, told me he thinks we have to try to push our limits, and mentioned something else he's doing with bridge plates (but recommended that it's not something I should try yet).
I better stop writing here. Building guitars is now firmly something that I'd like to continue to do. Thanks to Matt, Jeff, and Rick for spending so much time with me, the simultaneously intimidating and fantastic feeling, and giving me goals for where I'd like my skills to be various lengths of time.
*Read more about it here: http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Museum/Guitar/Modern/TurnerK aiser/turnerkaiser.html
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Here's something I took behind the Long.
